Going Deaf?

Back in August, shortly after the start of school, Steve hadn't been hearing so well for a couple of days.  He actually couldn't hear at all out of his left ear.  You can imagine what a second-grader could get away with when the teacher can't hear what is going on behind his turned back.  So, after school we went to get it checked out. 

Growing up, Steve was no stranger to partial deafness.  He punctured a hole into his eardrum on several occasions, at least 4 times in his life.  You see, something would happen- a lit firecracker housed in a pop can would explode right by his ear before he threw it, a kick to his head in mid-air from a flying companion riding a water banana, an unintentional head-butt during a friendly basketball game-  you know, the usual knocks of growing up, and each time his ear drum would rupture, he could inhale a deep breath and blow air out his damaged ear.  Then he would be deaf in that ear until it healed up. 

Well, this time around was different.  He could not blow air out of his ear.  The doctor took a look in his ear and took a step back, looked Steve in the eye and said, "wax-maker."  His nurse came in shortly after to clean out his waxed-up ear.  With warm water and a syringe, and with me as an assistant, we got that ear hearing again. 

Leaving the doctor's office, Steve could hear better than he had in a long time and he noticed that his other ear (the one that had a lot of scar tissue from past eardrum ruptures) couldn't hear as well.  That's something he hadn't noticed in a while.